


The Burned Bender

by Pearl09



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Zhao (Avatar) Is An Asshole, as I haven't written everything yet, basically everything ba sing se and beyond will be here, but i understand if you think it's zuko, gets to canon in season 2, he's also a matchmaker, starts before Aang wakes up, this whole thing's inspiration came from the tales of ba sing se, title is about oc, where Zuko goes on that date
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-01-14 12:18:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18476077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearl09/pseuds/Pearl09
Summary: Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. It just wasn't supposed to change like this.OrNuraya comes from one of the most powerful firebending families in the entire Fire Nation - but they also happen to be the most peaceful. For generations, they've stayed out of the war. But what happens when a certain General sees their refusal to get involved as treason?





	1. The Journey

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, thanks for reading! My friend had me watch Atla recently and I became a _little_ obsessed. I'm not putting a schedule to this so I don't know how frequent updates will be, but I will definitely update until I finish, no matter how long it takes! (I totally don't already have the end written...)
> 
> Also! This chapter is maybe a little not kid friendly - this is called the burned bender after all. Nothing is described in detail, but it is more direct than Zuko's burning in 'The Storm.'

Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. It just wasn't supposed to change like this.

Nuraya, fourteen, was currently making her way to the nearby village, having run from her own. Why, you ask? Well, that's a bit of a long story. You see, Nuraya is a Fire Nation native. Her family has lived here as long as she is aware of, and that's at least since the start of the war, those hundred years ago. Her great grandfather refused to get involved with the war though. He believed it was foolish, and felt the people living together in harmony was more than ideal. So, he turned down everyone who asked him to join the war efforts, and they respectfully left them alone.

This tradition was passed down through the generations - the whole family refused to be involved in the war, even though they were some of the best firebenders in the nation. Not greater than the Fire Lord and his family, of course, but they would be a worthy rival.

Just last week, Nuraya was out in the yard, practicing firebending with her father.

"Yes, just like that!" he proclaims as Nuraya perfects the latest move they've been working on, which involves kicking the fire out in multiple directions.

Nuraya rights herself again with a smile on her face, her long dark brown hair starting to escape the bun it was pulled back into for practice. Her hazel green eyes shine in the flickering firelight from the torches she had lit earlier.

"Keep it up like that, and you may be able to best me," her father says with a smile and a laugh. "You certainly are a talented young girl."

The bell at the gates rings and, confused; her father pauses their training to check who is trying to reach them at this time of night. Nuraya, ever the curious girl, follows behind him.

"Commander Zhao," he says when he opens the gates, a frown in his voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Mrithun. I saw that someone was practicing their firebending from the fire that shot out above your wall and was intrigued. I wanted to see who happened to shoot their fire that high into the air."

Looking back, Mrithun sees Nuraya behind him and wraps an arm around her to bring her close and up front. "That would have been my daughter here, Nuraya. We were just in the middle of a training session, so if you would excuse us -"

"Actually, I was also looking to talk to you, if you have the time."

Mrithun purses his lips and looks down at Nuraya, then says, "Go ahead back inside, we can work more on your chi after this conversation. Take this with you.” He pulls a Pai Sho tile out of his pocket and pushes it into her hands.

Wanting to hear the conversation but not wanting to disobey her father, Nuraya nods and walks back to the house, closing the door behind her so her father knows she made it back inside. 

She puts the tile in her pocket before sitting down in front of the mirror in her room and takes her hair out, fixing it by brushing through it and putting it back up in a bun. She then takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, trying to meditate so that she's ready for the next lesson. Because of this, she doesn't know a thing that's happening outside.

You see, Commander Zhao had simply made the excuse of the firebending; he wasn't all that interested in seeing who it had been. He was more interested in trying to enlist Mrithun, to which he refused, as is usual for the family. Except Zhao isn't one to accept no for an answer. He doesn't care if they're one of the most powerful bender families, all he cares about is that they won't support the war, which in his eyes is treason. So when Mrithun closes the gates in his face, Zhao takes that as the final act of treason and sets the house on fire.

The smell of burning is something Nuraya is used to, being a firebender, so she doesn't notice anything until it's too late - until the fire's already taken over most of the house. She hears someone's screams and opens her eyes to find the fire engulfing the room, racing towards her along the walls.

Panicking, she tries to open the door near her but has to pull her hand away because of the heat. She holds her hand in her other to ease the throbbing but doesn't know how else she'd get out of the building. Sure, she can firebend, but there’s too much fire. She’d never be able to do anything to it.

She decides to grit through the pain and opens the door, scalding her palm on the handle. Smoke billows through, and she drops to the ground, coughing, having to resort to crawling around to find a way out of the house. Creaking noises can be heard around the new room, the house ready to collapse any minute now.

The house finally gives way and starts to fall, sections falling everywhere out of the ceiling and the walls crumbling away. She does her best to dodge the falling timbers, but without being able to see them... A particularly loud crack makes her look up as one of the flaming logs falls, landing on her face. It burns the side of her head as she screams in pain, and her hands burn as well as she pushes the heavy log off of herself. She's made it this far though and is determined to use what little energy she has left to get out of the house. Once the log is off of her, she manages to get out of the house where the grass is already burned up. She shakily stands and makes her way out of the burning walls, her legs finally giving out in front of a river, the house a distant fire on the horizon.

She spent the night at the riverside, trying to use the water to help cool the pain from her wounds and tearing the bottom of her shirt to make bandages. After that night, she decided she couldn't bear to look at the house again since everyone was more than likely dead, and sets out in her tattered and burned clothes for the closest village.

And that's how she got to where we are now - just outside a small town, perfect for her to stay under the radar. She knows better than to think anyone other than Commander Zhao started the fire, so she doesn't want him knowing she's still alive, just in case.

As the weeks pass, Nuraya goes from town to town, looking for someone to give her a job, some reason to stay there and not move onto the next. She has to live off of scraps people give her, or, when it gets really bad, out of the trash. 

Her burns weren’t healing as well as she had hoped, so that didn’t help. The pain was finally starting to go away as the skin healed, but a lot of her skin was scarring over, mainly in the places that didn’t hurt after she got out of the fire. She’s lost all feeling in her hands, which are definitely scarred, with some spots tapering off up her wrists. The right side of her head is also scarred, her hair missing. That scar extends a little onto her face, cutting down her forehead and through her eye, but not quite reaching her cheek.

That’s one of the worst things possible for someone in the Fire Nation – if you’re covered in burn scars, that means you were hurt by a bender, which could mean a whole array of things that you did to deserve them.

Town after town, she’s treated as an outcast, most people not even willing to talk to her. 

_I’ve got to get out of here,_ she thinks to herself as she huddles close to the fire she started. She’s never thought of leaving the Fire Nation before, but now, she can’t imagine staying. Maybe someone somewhere else would take pity on her; think she got injured in an attack from the Fire Nation. Which, in a way, she was.

There is no easy way out of the Fire Nation – the sea is the only way, and it’s not like Nuraya has any money to buy passage on another boat. Or that there would be any boats other than warships leaving anyway. All she has is her ratty clothes and the Pai Sho tile in her pocket. If her only options are to stay and suffer or try to stow away in one of the warships, hoping that it would take her to either the Earth Kingdom or the Water Tribes… yeah, she does the latter.

It’s surprisingly a lot easier than she thought it would be. Once she finally makes it to the ship docks, her expertise in firebending helps her incapacitate a member of the navy – he must have been new. She steals his uniform and acts as a soldier, easily hiding her face under the masks they wear. If Commander Zhao had been on the ship she was, she’s sure she wouldn’t have made it. But, luckily, she gets by in the ship she’s on until they finally reach the Earth Kingdom. Where the soldiers were headed, she doesn’t find out, leaving in the middle of the night when it was her turn to guard the campsite. She loses the uniform before she goes to make it harder for them to find her if they come looking.

Back in her tattered clothes, she realizes she’s going to need to find something else to wear before she meets anyone. Her brown pants might be okay, albeit the ragged look of them, but the red shirt has to go, or they might think she’s Fire Nation. She is, but she doesn’t want them to know.

As she’s distancing herself from the camp, she comes across a farmhouse, complete with clothes hanging on a clothesline. It’s in poor taste to just take it, but she doesn’t know what else to do. She fishes around in her pocket and finds a coin, dropping it in the dirt and hoping the family will find it to make up for the clothes she takes. 

There are no shirts in her size, but there is an earth green dress that looks to be the perfect size, so she loses both the pants and the shirt in favor of the dress. The black shoes she’s got now will have to do. Before she leaves, she makes sure to take the tile her father gave her. It’s all she has left.

As dawn is breaking, Nuraya makes it into a town, people just starting to rise with the sun. She gets some curious glances from those already out and about, but no one outright ignores her or turns their nose up at her because of her scars. She still feels self-conscious about it though and wishes she had found a cloak so that the hood would have covered her face.

As much as she would like to stay in the first town she comes across; if she can make it in one night, she’s still too close to the army. She needs to find a place that hasn’t been touched by the war – somewhere safe. She had dinner with the army the night before, so she passes through the town without stopping for anything. 

She’s not quite sure where to go, but she’s glad she’s out of the Fire Nation now. It seems so peaceful around the forest — nothing like what she’s used to at home. Birds are flying around in the sky and animals are running around in the woods – and everything here is susceptible to burning. She’s got to be careful around here, lest she give herself and her bending away. 

During Nuraya’s travels, she finds out just how bad the war has been. Some towns she comes across are in control of the Fire Nation, forced to pay rising taxes in order to keep their houses from burning down. Some of them are still free, but a tense air lays over the town as they wait, day after day, to see if there’s going to be an attack. 

The further into the Earth Kingdom she gets, the more the Fire Nation seems to be around. It’s probably because the main battle is in the capital of Ba Sing Se, but even General Iroh couldn’t make it through the walls.

There’s a child running around on the road up ahead, and Nuraya stops to talk to him. 

“Hey there,” she says as the boy stops and stares. “What are you up to?”

“Playing,” he says sheepishly.

Looking around, Nuraya asks, “All the way out here by yourself?”

He bites his thumb. “I got lost.”

“Far away from home, huh? Me too.” She extends her hand out for him to hold. “Come on; I’ll help you find your way back home.”

He reaches out for her hand and latches onto one of her fingers, his thumb still in his mouth. As they start walking, Nuraya wants to make the kid feel safe, so she starts talking. “You must be a strong earthbender, huh? Brave enough to have journeyed all alone this far from your village.”

He giggles around his thumb, gripping her finger tighter.

They climb over a hill as the sun starts to set and there’s a village at the bottom. The boy takes his hand out of his mouth to point, saying, “That’s my house!”

Nuraya smiles. “Let’s get you home.”

They enter the town as dusk settles and the first thing Nuraya notices is it’s occupied by the Fire Nation. She holds his hand tighter as they weave through the streets.

“Kwan!” a woman calls from down the street. She starts running towards them. “Oh, Kwan, we thought you were lost!” She picks him up and hugs him.

“I was!” he points at Nuraya. “The nice lady helped me home.”

His mom looks to Nuraya and smiles. “Thank you for bringing my little boy home.”

Before Nuraya can respond, Fire Nation soldiers come out of the nearby alley.

“You there! What’s all of this commotion?”

The mother cowers in fear as she turns to face the soldiers, holding Kwan closer to her. Nuraya steps in-between the groups, standing tall. “She just found her lost son,” she tells them. “I think she deserves to be happy about that.”

The soldier gets closer and towers over Nuraya. “You seem to be new here, so I’ll let you off the hook just this once. There’s a curfew here in this town. Once the sun goes down, it’s supposed to be quiet, and you have to have a good reason to be outside.”

The mother grabs Nuraya’s wrist, pulling her backward. “Come with me; I’ll get you out of here.” She drags Nuraya away from the soldiers and into an open house, closing it behind her. “Stay here for the night. Those soldiers are everywhere, and you’ll have a hard time leaving. Besides, I owe you for helping my son home. Let me heat some dinner for the two of you; you must be hungry.”

Nuraya tries to protest, but the mother won’t hear of it, so she quietly sits down and asks questions as food is being prepared. 

“Are they always like this? The soldiers, I mean.”

“Yes, unfortunately. They’ve been here for years now, and no one’s been brave enough to stand up to them. They run the town and keep us in constant fear. That’s why, when I couldn’t find Kwan, I was afraid something might have happened to him.” She hands Nuraya a bowl and some chopsticks. “That’s also why I have insisted on housing you for the night, for bringing my little boy home.” She looks over at him fondly, eating his own food, and lowers her voice. “The last person to stand up to them was his father, and they took him off somewhere when they defeated him. No one’s seen him since.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Nuraya stays the night at the house, planning on leaving in the morning.

“Please, I insist, let me buy something for your travels.”

“As kind of an offer as that is, I haven’t done anything to deserve it.”

“You don’t know how much it means to me that you brought Kwan back home safely. I insist, at least food for today.”

Sighing, Nuraya relents, letting her and Kwan drag her into the market. 

“I don’t need all of that,” she sighs as the mother piles food into a basket.

“You will get all of this and more,” she says. “I can tell from your scars that the Fire Nation has affected you. I don’t want to pry, but if you’re looking for a spot to get away from the war, Ba Sing Se is the only place safe enough. Its walls are impenetrable.”

“Thank you for the information,” Nuraya responds, trying to sneak some of the food back out of the basket.

Three soldiers walk into the market and the air turns tense as the people turn away from them, not wanting to upset them. They walk around the market and look at the stalls, finally stopping at the vendor next to Nuraya.

“Let’s have some of that,” one of them says to the stand owner, pointing at something on the cart.

“Do you have money?” the owner asks quietly.

“Money?” the man says, slamming his fist on the vendor’s cart. “We’re in control of this town, if we want something we get it for free!”

Little Kwan, who had been watching the whole thing, was feeling inspired by Nuraya’s act of defiance yesterday and throws a rock at the soldier to get his attention. “Hey! That’s stealing!”

The soldiers turn away from threatening the owner to tower over Kwan, each of them looking at him in disgust.

Nuraya takes the basket of food now that it’s been paid for and turns to see the soldiers looming over the small boy.

“He’s just a child, please, forgive him,” his mother pleads, but the soldiers won’t listen.

“The brat should be taught a lesson on who’s in charge,” the lead soldier says, and swings his arm back to hit the boy. It never connects though, for Nuraya catches his arm, the basket of food laying in the dirt.

“He’s just a boy,” she says, letting him go and stepping in front of Kwan.

“A boy who should learn some respect,” the soldier spits, “as do you, it seems.”

The people scatter as the man gets into a fighting position, Kwan’s mother pulling him out of the way. Nuraya does the same, ready and waiting for the soldier to attack first.

“From the looks of your scars, you’ve been in a fight with a firebender before,” he taunts. “Do I need to prove to you not to talk out of place by marking you even more?”

Nuraya takes a deep breath, not wanting to lose control because they made her angry. 

When nothing happens, the soldier attacks, shooting a fireball at Nuraya, who dodges easily.

“You’re fast, you little brat, but not fast enough for three of us!” All three soldiers attack her with fire this time, but again, she dodges all three of them.

“How are you going to fight back if you keep running away like a coward!”

Nuraya curls her lip and jumps at them, using her momentum to slide under the first one and trip him, then jump up and kick one of the others in the face.

Now the soldiers are too angry to taunt her and start attacking more frequently as Nuraya dodges and weaves in-between them, kicking and punching them and knocking them over.

Unfortunately, they start to learn her moves, and while they are certainly getting rattled up, one of them manages to shoot a fireball at her while she was off-guard.

Gasping, Nuraya quickly throws her arms up in front of her, making the fire dissipate with a fireball of her own, shocked gasps escaping everyone watching.

The soldiers grin turns to a look of shock as the fire disappears but Nuraya is unharmed.

“How are you not hurt?!” he yells, and Nuraya, knowing now her cover is blown, drops down and spins with her leg kicked out, shooting fire at the soldiers and knocking them all over again.

“You’re a traitor!” one of them yells as they scramble to get back up. One of them starts to run away.

“And you’re a bunch of bullies!” Nuraya responds, throwing another fireball and making another soldier run, leaving one left. “I am Nuraya of Mrithun, the best non-royal benders in all of the Fire Nation! You will leave these people alone!” Another blast of fire from her sends the last soldier running away.

Turning around to survey the damage done, Nuraya notices everyone cowering under her gaze, trying to protect each other from her. She looks down at the ground, crestfallen, and picks up the basket she dropped, picking up what fell out and putting it back in. Kwan hides behind his mother as she glares at Nuraya.

Sighing, Nuraya walks away, putting the town behind her in the distance as she starts for Ba Sing Se.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come and[ follow my tumblr](https://pearlll09.tumblr.com/) for updates, or just to talk, I'm always down to talk about the fandoms I'm in :)


	2. The Order Of The White Lotus

Nuraya eats her food sparingly as she tries to figure out how to get into Ba Sing Se. She doesn’t have any money or any form of identification, so how is she supposed to get in?

Now fifteen, it’s been almost a year since the fire. She’s going to run out of food eventually, so that’s another issue. There’s another town nearby, so Nuraya decides to stop and take a break; it would be easier to travel at night when it’s cooler.

There’s an open door with a cool breeze escaping the room that draws Nuraya into the bar. She sneaks in and sits down at a table in the corner, determined to stay until they kick her out for not buying anything. 

She looks around the bar and notices nearby a man sitting at a Pai Sho table.

 _Can I play a game?_ she remembers her father and uncle saying one time when she begged to go with them. They had done something with the white lotus tile…

Fishing around in her pocket, she pulls out the tile her father had given her and realizes it’s the white lotus tile.

She gets up from the table she’s at and walks over to the man, declaring, “May I play a game?”

He gestures to the seat opposite of him, so she sits down, placing the tile on the center of the table.

“Ahh, the white lotus. Not many still cling to the ancient ways.” He then places his tile down.

“It belonged to my father,” she admits, rubbing the back of her neck. “I don’t actually know how to play.” She doesn’t remember what happened after that other than sitting outside a closed door, waiting for her father and uncle to come back out. 

The man squints at her for a few seconds and asks, “Mrithun’s daughter?”

She gulps but nods, hoping something good will come out of admitting she’s Fire Nation.

He purses his lips, thinking, but then stands and says, “Follow me.”

He leads her out of the bar and through the town into another building, where he has her sit and wait outside of a closed door, just like she remembers. 

It’s a while before he finally comes back out, shutting the door behind him. 

“I can’t do anything right now,” he starts, looking down at Nuraya. “But I can offer you shelter until I can, which should only be a few days at most.”

Nuraya hesitates before nodding, figuring it’s really her only option. She follows the man back to his house where he gives her dinner and a place to sleep.

The next day, someone comes in around noon. The two men speak in hushed voices on the other side of the room, giving Nuraya a strange feeling. 

Finally, they turn and walk over to her, so she stands to address them. The new man stands behind the other one, listening intently.

“What is your opinion on the war?”

It’s a straightforward question and Nuraya is taken aback, but answers honestly.

“I think the Fire Nation is wrong and that we shouldn’t be trying to take over the world. But I also understand that you can’t blame them all. Some of them don’t know the truth. The real people to blame are the Fire Lords for spreading false information and thinking we need the war in the first place.”

The two men share a glance before asking the next question. “What about everyone other than the Fire Nation?”

“They’re just trying to defend themselves, but that doesn’t mean they’re all good either. They could be abusing their power over the towns they are supposed to be protecting. The only true way to help everyone is to end the war and restore balance.”

“If you were to get involved in the war, what would you do?”

Nuraya pauses, unsure. She’s never thought of getting involved in the war before, as no one in her family ever has. “I guess… I’d probably go searching for the avatar to help them restore the peace.”

The two men nod at her answer and walk back over to the other side of the room to talk by themselves again. After a while, they beckon Nuraya over and together the group walks out of the house.

“Where are we going?” she asks.

She receives the vague answer of, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

They lead her back to the door from the previous day and Nuraya goes to sit down and wait, but the men stop her. “This time, you can come in,” they say, smiling. They hold the door open for her and hesitantly, she walks in. There’s a handful of chairs around a table, and a couple of other people standing or sitting around, but other than that it seems like a regular room.

“Why are you letting me in now?” she asks, and the men gesture for her to take a seat at the table.

“Because we liked your answers to your questions. We are the Order of the White Lotus, a secret society uniting the nations and seeking philosophy, beauty, and truth. We sent a message to the head of the organization, the Grand Lotus, yesterday to see what we could do to help, and he agreed if your answers were satisfactory, you could become an honorary member. Normal induction is much different, but because of your father and uncle, we allowed it to pass.”

“A secret society…” she says, marveling over the idea. “And I’m an honorary member?”

They nod. “You are not yet an adult, so you can not be an official member yet, but once you reach eighteen, you are welcome to make your membership official, or leave if you would prefer. Now, just in case the next person running the Pai Sho table doesn’t recognize you.”

The men show her what to do and say to find their hideouts if she needs to find one of them again. They also take some time to show her how to play Pai Sho, so no one gets suspicious if she tries to play against someone not in the order.

“Now, is there something we can help you with? I assume you didn’t come up to me just for fun.”

“I’m trying to get into Ba Sing Se,” Nuraya states, sliding her lotus tile off of the table and back into her pocket. “I heard I can be safe there.”

“Yes, it does seem the war has hurt you in more ways than one,” the man comments, glancing at her scars. “You’ll need a passport to get in and over the ferry. We can arrange that for you – your name might be recognizable by Fire Nation, but it should be okay to keep your name for the Earth Kingdom. It’s not like you’re part of the royal family, such as Prince Zuko. We can also give you some money; it should help you get started and find a job in the city.”

“Know this,” another person warns. “Ba Sing Se is nothing like the rest of the world. The Fire Nation hammers against the outer wall, trying to break it down, but the main city is in the inner wall, and most of the citizens don’t know the war exists. Not even the king. They are taking refugees, but if someone mentions the war, they get taken away and come back different. Don’t let your guard down too low.”

Nuraya nods in understanding. “Okay. Thank you for letting me know.” She bows to him to show her respect.

“We’ll have the passport done before the end of the day so that you can be on your way. We’ll include a map, so you know where to go. You’re welcome to stay here as you wait.”

Nuraya sits back down at the table, nodding. “Thank you.”

As promised, Nuraya has money, a passport, and a map before the sun sets, and though they offer to let her stay the night, Nuraya declines and leaves the town. She travels by night and sleeps by day, for in the dry grasslands it gets very hot during the day, so night travel is more comfortable. 

Luckily, Nuraya doesn’t run into many other problems on her journey, besides a shortage of food after having to take shelter in a cave for a night during a bad storm. Finally, she makes it to the ticket area for the ferry to take them across the lake and to the city’s outer wall.

Families huddle together around bags of their belongings, forlornly looking at the ground and staying close to each other. Nuraya thought she had it bad, but these are entire families that have been displaced due to the war. Her own troubles seem somewhat less to her when she looks at everyone else. 

Standing in line, Nuraya fishes her passport out of her pocket, as well as the money. She doesn’t know if she needs to buy the ticket or not. She joins the line to wait her turn.

“Next!” the lady yells shrilly, again, and Nuraya meekly sets her passport down on the counter. “What happened to you?” The lady asks as she looks over the passport.

“My house burned down. I was the only one to escape, though it came at a cost.”

“I see.” The lady stamps a ticket and passes it over to Nuraya along with her passport. “Seems real to me. Next!”

Nuraya joins the waiting families with tickets, sitting down by herself and flipping the lotus tile over and over in her hand.

“You nervous?” Someone next to her asks.

Nuraya looks over to see a woman dressed in brown clothes smiling kindly at her. “A little,” she admits.

“You’re welcome to stick with me and my family until we get to the city if you would like,” she offers. “It seems terrible to let a young girl such as yourself have to go through this alone.”

Nuraya smiles, scooting closer to the woman as she says, “That sounds nice, thanks.”

After a few minutes of silence, the woman starts to talk again. “We were uprooted when the Fire Nation attacked our village. They were going to take any earthbender they could find, and do who knows what with them. My youngest is an earthbender, though he’s still new at it, we didn’t want to risk it. So we packed up and ran in the middle of the night. We were lucky to have made it this far; I just hope we can start a new life in the city.”

Nuraya doesn’t say anything for a bit, taking in what the woman just willingly told her. “A Fire Nation commander burned down my house,” she says quietly, looking at her hands. “I was the only one to escape, and now I’m marked for it. Every day, I see these scars. I scrape the edge of the one on my head when I pull my hair back. Every day, I’m reminded of what I’ve lost. Of what I can never get back.” She holds up the Pai Sho tile. “This is all I have left.”

The woman reaches around Nuraya and grabs her opposite shoulder, pulling her in for a side hug. “We’ve all lost things in the war, sweetheart. Scars don’t define us – they help shape us and make us into who we are and who we will be.”

Nuraya doesn’t answer, not ready to believe that when her scars have only brought her pain. She welcomes the hug though; it’s been a long time since she’s had any physical contact with anyone. 

A kid who can’t be older than ten comes running over, a grin on his face. “Momma, Momma, look!” he sticks his hand out towards the ground and furrows his eyebrows, screwing his face up in concentration as a couple of pebbles shakily lift off of the earth.

His mother’s face lights up, and she congratulates her son on his big accomplishment.

“Can you bend?” the boy suddenly asks Nuraya, and she stares at him wide-eyed for a moment before answering.

“I can’t earthbend, no.”

Disappointed, the kid runs back over to his father.

“I hope we’ll be able to find him a teacher in the city. I think he’d make one fine earthbender one day.”

“Yeah, kid’s got talent.”

It’s quiet again, and the ferry arrives, so those with tickets start to gather their things to board the boat. Nuraya trails behind the small family, not wanting to separate any of them from each other. She knows she’s not one of them; she’s relatively close to being the reason they were uprooted in the first place. 

She keeps up a friendly attitude with them as they cross the lake though, not wanting to be asked questions as to why she seems upset. 

Once they reach the shore, Nutraya leaves them with a short goodbye, not wanting her guilt to rise anymore. If she and her family had just interfered with the war and tried to fight back against the Fire Lord and show the Nation that the war is wrong, she could have saved this family from being uprooted. Instead, her family had ignored the war for years, and here she is, continuing the tradition, running into one of the only cities left untouched by the war. 

What can she do though? One kid isn’t enough to convince an entire nation of people that their leader is wrong and the leaders have been wrong for an entire century. She buries her guilt and squares her shoulders as she shows another person her passport. The avatar is the only person who can help now, and they’ve been missing for a hundred years now, and she doesn’t have the means to find him. If the avatar does come back, Nuraya will help stop the war. But that’s more than likely not going to happen, so she needs to start a new life here in the meantime.

The man smiles at her and hands her passport back. “Welcome to Ba Sing Se.”


	3. The Capital

Nuraya takes a seat on the crowded train that travels from the outer wall to the inner wall. She looks out the open window as they move, watching the farms and countryside pass by as they get closer and closer to the city.

The train slows as they reach the wall, earthbenders parting it to let the train in. It stops not far into the city, and Nuraya follows the crowd off of the train and into the streets. It’s a little overwhelming; buildings upon buildings as far as the eye can see, and the towering wall behind them. 

Nuraya breaks from the general crowd and goes down a less crowded street, looking around to try and determine where to even start. She needs to find a house and a job, but she doesn’t know how to do either. For a job, she can probably just approach shop owners and ask for jobs, but the house is going to be a lot harder to figure out.

Walking down the street, she hears a noise in a nearby shop and turns to look through the open door. Inside, the owner struggles with a large vase of flowers, trying not to drop it.

“Here, let me help,” Nuraya says after rushing in, taking the vase from the man. 

“Thanks there,” he says, wiping his brow. “If you could set it down over there?”

“Sure.” She takes it to the place he pointed to, setting it down and moving some of the flowers around to make it look better.

“You new here?” the man asks her.

“Just got off of the train,” Nuraya answers, turning to address him.

He strokes his beard. “You must be looking for a job and a place to live then, huh? I’m willing to offer both.”

Nuraya looks shocked. “Really?”

He nods with a smile. “My name’s Arnit, and I could use some help around here. I’m one of the only flower shops around, so it gets fairly busy, and my last helper left; he was working here while he was in the city for college. He also used to live in the apartment above the shop, so that is vacant at the moment. Here’s my offer. Full time, six days a week, and I’ll take the money out of your earnings for the apartment, so you don’t have to worry about payments. Unless, of course, you’re here with someone else?”

She shakes her head. “It’s just me.”

He nods. “Well then, if that sounds good to you?”

Nuraya smiles, bowing. “It sounds wonderful.”

Arnit smiles too and bows back to her. “You start tomorrow then; I’ll let you have today to settle in. Let me find the key for you.” He disappears into the back room and comes back shortly after, handing the key over to Nuraya. 

“Thank you,” she says, bowing again. She leaves the shop and walks back out to the street, looking around before deciding to see the apartment before visiting the market.

There’s a small set of stairs running up the side of the building, so Nuraya climbs them, unlocking the door at the top with the key.

It’s not a big room, but there’s a kitchen, a bedroll, and a table. It’s more than she’s been able to call her own for a long time now. She’s going to need food though, so she locks the door again and walks to the market for groceries. She has the money the White Lotus gave her, so it’s enough to buy food and maybe a few small decorations.

When Nuraya leaves the market, she leaves with a new basket full of food dangling off of her arm, holding a small pot containing a bonsai tree. 

She shifts the tree into one hand to pull her key back out, unlocking the door. She drops the basket on the table and sets the tree up in the front window, finding a cup in the kitchen to water it. 

She smiles as she unpacks her basket; she’s already found a job and a place to live, and she just got here. She was lucky for it to happen so fast and at the same time.

After making dinner, Nuraya sits and watches the sky fade to black as she eats, the sun long gone behind the walls. Maybe she can make this work. Maybe.

The next morning Nuraya wakes as the sun starts to light up the sky. She eats a small meal for breakfast before locking her door and going downstairs. Arnit is there too, unlocking the entrance to the shop.

“Ah, you’re here already!” he says as he pushes the door open. “Great, let's show you what things are in here.”

He shows her the different prices, where the vases are, and how to wrap flowers, along with other things she needs to know in order to work there.

“For now I’ll handle the arranging, but with a couple of months I’m sure you’ll have it down.”

“It sure does seem a lot more complicated than I realized. Flowers have their own meanings too?”

“Yep! Being able to arrange flowers to convey emotions is a work of art that no one seems to appreciate. I will have to make a list of what we sell here so you can learn the meanings. For now, can you move some of these vases and set them on display?”

Nuraya spends the workday organizing the shop, moving vases around and refilling displays. Arnit handles any customers that come in, helping them with their flowers, promising Nuraya that once she’s gotten used to the shop, he’ll let her watch him so she can eventually help customers herself if he’s preoccupied.

The next day, Arnit gives her a scroll with a list of flowers and their meanings for her to memorize, showing her a couple of arrangements he would typically make so she gets more of a feel for what she might encounter.

As the weeks progress, Nuraya gets more and more adjusted to the city, becoming an integral part of the flower shop. She learns quickly, and is soon doing everything she possibly can do around the shop; mainly carrying around the heavy things and making arrangements.

She wishes she could forget about the war, but she can’t. The man who told her about the city was right, no one talks about the war, so it would be much easier to just forget it. Her scars tell her otherwise, marking her and forcing herself to partially lie about how she got them to the curious customer. It comes at least once a week. 

Slowly, she builds a new life in the city, but on her days off, she takes trips outside the inner wall to a secluded area so she can practice her firebending, just in case. She wishes she had news from what’s going on with the war now, but she has no way of finding out unless she can find another White Lotus member, which is highly unlikely. For now, she sits and waits, adding bamboo to either side of her bonsai tree and making her small apartment home.


	4. City of Walls and Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out, any chapter with elements from a specific episode has that episode title, even if there's only a few elements from the episode that I've written in. There's maybe one chapter much later that isn't part of the series, so you can follow along with where I am with episode titles if you want :)
> 
> Also: when characters, such as Zuko and Iroh, are using fake names, I still use their real names unless it's in dialogue, due to the 3rd person pov I've chosen, just in case it gets confusing as to why I might say "Zuko does this" and then someone else address him as Lee.

It’s approaching a year since Nuraya has entered the city, and soon after that, it will be two years since the fire. She celebrated her sixteenth birthday while in the city, not that she told anyone to celebrate with her. Today, she’s running the shop by herself as Arnit took the day off due to personal business.

A portly older man walks into the shop and starts looking at the flowers.

“Can I help you?” Nuraya asks him, setting her wrappings to the side.

“I was just looking to buy some flowers for my new apartment,” he says, smiling at Nuraya. “Though I’m not sure my nephew will appreciate them.”

“Any particular flower in mind?”

He shakes his head, saying, “Something that looks nice, along with a vase.”

Nuraya smiles and gestures for him to wait, gathering some flowers before taking them to the table and pulling out a vase. The arrangement has a couple of different types of flowers, including daffodils, peonies, and some heather. 

“My, that sure does look beautiful,” he says once Nuraya has all the flowers in the vase. “You certainly have an eye for flower arrangements.”

She shrugs and says, “I’ve been working here for about a year, you learn a thing or two over time.”

The man pays and says, “I think I’ll be back for more when these flowers die, uh,”

“Nuraya,” she finishes with a smile.

He nods and bows his head, answering with, “Mushi. My nephew and I just found jobs at the tea shop down the street if you want to come and visit any time.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Have a nice day!”

“You too, Nuraya.” He leaves the shop and hurries down the street after a familiar figure.

“What are those for?” Zuko says, glaring at the flowers.

“I just want our new place to look nice in case someone brings home a lady friend,” Iroh answers, nudging Zuko. “The young lady who helped me with the arrangement was cute; I think you’d like her. Something about her name sounds familiar, but I can’t quite place it.”

Zuko rolls his eyes and says, “This city is a prison. The last thing I want to do is make a life here.”

They continue down the street together towards their apartment.

Nuraya, completely unaware of who was really just in the shop, continues wrapping different flower arrangements as customers filter in and out of the store. Overall it’s a pretty peaceful day, and everything runs smoothly. At the end of the night, she closes the store up and locks everything valuable away before retiring to her apartment.

The next morning, Arnit greets her as she brings him back the key.

“Everything go smoothly for you, I hope?” he asks as he unlocks the door.

“Yes, sold flowers, made arrangements, nothing out of the ordinary.”

They both step in and start to open the shop up, Nuraya changing the water out on the flowers as Arnit pulls the valuables out of the safe. It’s easiest for her to do the flowers because she can’t feel the thorns if they prick her. She still wears gloves though, just to be sure she doesn’t accidentally cut herself. 

Iroh as Mushi enters the shop, looking around at the flowers again.

“Back again already, Mushi?” Nuraya jokes, setting the flowers she was holding down. “You couldn’t have killed those flowers that quickly.”

He smiles at her, saying, “Yes, I’m back. But not for my apartment this time. You see, the tea shop is rather dull and boring looking, so I was hoping for some flower arrangements to spruce the shop up. The owner agreed to let me set up a delivery with you twice a week if you accept, but we do have a budget.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Arnit cuts in, as he is the owner of the shop and is the one to make these decisions. “Why don’t the three of us look at your budget and see what we can do with it?”

The talks don’t last very long, as no actual arrangements are planned out, just the amount of bouquets and the number of flowers in each. 

“I’ll make them now and bring them down to the shop when I finish if that’s okay?” Nuraya offers.

“That sounds splendid. I am looking forward to seeing what other kinds of arrangements you can make.”

Iroh leaves, and Nuraya gathers all the flowers she needs before taking them with her to the back room. They don’t need vases, but the budget does allow for a decent amount of flowers per bouquet.

She makes each arrangement the same, using a mixture of anthuriums, gerberas, and hyacinths. Once she finishes all of them, she carefully gathers them up in her arms and tells Arnit she’ll be back soon.

Luckily she knows where the tea shop is already, so she doesn’t have to guess the direction it’s in. Which is good, because, with the way she is holding the flowers, she can hardly see around them. 

“Ah, Nuraya!” she hears Iroh say from somewhere inside the shop when she enters. “They look beautiful. Lee, help her, will you?”

Zuko as Lee carefully takes some of the flowers off of Nuraya, too focused on the flowers to see her face. Together, they set the flowers in the vases at each table, finishing right next to each other.

Zuko turns to Nuraya as she says, “Thanks for the help. I’m Nuraya, by the way.” Her bangs fall into her face, and she blows them back instead of moving them. 

Zuko stares at her with wide eyes as he says, “Lee.”

There’s an awkward silence as Zuko continues to stare at her. “Well, I should get going,” Nuraya finally says with an awkward smile. “I’ll be back later in the week with the next arrangements.” She nods and then turns around, leaving the shop. 

Zuko watches her leave, and when he continues to stare out the door after she’s gone, Iroh slides up next to him and says, “I told you she was cute.”

“She’s not cute!” Zuko says adamantly, turning away from the door to address his uncle. “She’s beautiful,” he mutters, not making eye contact with Iroh. 

Nuraya makes it back to the flower shop just in time for a big rush of customers, so she forgets how awkward the meeting in the tea shop was. By late afternoon, there’s hardly anyone coming into the shop anymore.

“Go ahead and get out of here,” Arnit tells Nuraya as she restocks the roses. “I can take care of the rest, and you’ve done a lot today. Get some rest.”

Nuraya bows and leaves the shop, but she doesn’t go right up to her apartment. Instead, she walks down to the market, clutching her coin bag. She needs some more rice, so while she has time before the market closes for the night, she wants to buy some.

The sky is growing dark when Nuraya finally buys some rice. Turning around, she sees a familiar face in the market.

“Oh, hey, Lee,” she says, smiling at him.

“He – Hi, Nuraya,” he says, blushing slightly.

“You just get off of work?”

Zuko scratches the back of his head. “No, we got off earlier. I just wanted to take a walk is all.” He looks up at the sky and says, “It’s getting dark, would you like me to walk you home? There was a man who attacked us at the shop today, and I’d hate to see you get hurt.”

“I can take care of myself, thanks,” she says, pursing her lips.

Zuko hangs his head. “Oh, well –”

“But I wouldn’t turn down some company,” Nuraya says, blushing slightly.

“Oh! Well, I can certainly accompany you back to your apartment.”

They walk side by side down the street, and Nuraya is the first to start the conversation. “So, someone attacked you at work?”

Zuko nods. “He accused my uncle and me of being firebenders. Tried to get us arrested.”

Nuraya looks around cautiously. “Be careful talking like that around here; you could get in trouble.”

“What?” Zuko asks, confused. 

Nuraya sighs. “Do you have some time? I can’t say anything here, but if you come into my apartment, I can explain it.”

“Uhh… sure,” Zuko says. Trying to figure out how to change the subject, Zuko asks, “So, if you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been here? You don’t strike me as the type of person who’s lived here all her life.”

“Almost a year, at this point.”

Zuko nods. “My uncle and I just got here a few days ago. If that wasn’t obvious.”

Nuraya nods. “Yeah, it’s pretty obvious.” They make it to the flower shop, and Nuraya leads Zuko up the stairs, unlocking the door.

Zuko closes the door behind him as Nuraya sets the rice down on the table. She then closes the shutters on her windows and makes sure they are secure before gesturing for Zuko to sit down, taking a seat herself at the table.

“You know, all this secrecy is kind of unnerving,” Zuko says to break the silence.

“You must be good at hiding it then, cause you don’t look scared.” Nuraya lowers her voice and says, “But honestly? I think you should be. Have you met the Dai Li yet?”

“Yeah, they arrested that guy who attacked us.”

“They’re all over the city, hiding in the shadows. They arrest anyone talking about the war, and when those people come back, they act different, as if they were brainwashed. There is no war in Ba Sing Se.”

“What do you mean? The Fire Nation has been attacking the city for decades!”

“Keep your voice down!” Nuraya warns. “You don’t want them finding out. The people here don’t know there’s a war because the Fire Nation’s never made it through the outer wall. I heard the king himself doesn’t even know about the war; one of his assistants runs everything behind his back.”

“That’s insane,” Zuko says. “I told my uncle I didn’t like this place.”

“Just be careful, okay?” Nuraya says. “But, while we’re talking about it, the war's not over yet? I haven’t heard anything for an entire year.”

“No, there are new players in the field,” Zuko says, trying to figure out how to word it to make it sound like he’s not Fire Nation. “Close to the end of last year, the avatar reappeared.”

“The avatar?!” Nuraya says, shocked. “How? I thought the avatar’s been missing for a hundred years.”

“I wish I knew,” Zuko says darkly. “The Fire Nation attempted a raid on the North Pole, but the waterbenders won, thanks to the help of the avatar. He managed to sink a whole fleet of Fire Navy ships if the rumors are true.”

“Wow,” Nuraya whistles. She remembers what she told herself when she entered the city about joining the avatar. But, how would she find him? She doesn’t want to leave her life behind to go wandering around again without knowing where to go.

“I should head back before my uncle gets worried,” Zuko says, standing.

“Yes, of course. Thank you for accompanying me back here, and for updating me.”

“It was my pleasure,” Zuko says with a bow before he leaves.

Nuraya opens the shutters on the window facing the street and slides the plants to the side, leaning on the frame to watch Zuko leave.


	5. The Tales of Ba Sing Se

Nuraya and Zuko just miss each other the next couple of days, coming close to seeing each other again but something always gets in the way. They don’t see each other again until later in the week when Nuraya brings the next batch of flowers in. This time, she’s made bouquets of aster, chrysanthemums, and statice.

Zuko takes some of the flowers off of her when she arrives, greeting her with, “Hey, Nuraya!”

“Hey Lee,” she says, blowing her bangs out of her face again. “Thanks for helping!”

Together they replace the flowers on the tables, piling the old ones up so Nuraya can take them back with her.

“Are you sure you don’t want to just throw them out?” Zuko asks as Nuraya picks the pile up. 

“No, I can find a way to use them. If nothing else, let them decompose and turn into fertilizer.” She straightens up and says, “See you around!”

Zuko watches her walk out the door again, and Iroh rolls his eyes. “Go ask her out,” he says, causing Zuko to jump.

“Why would I do that?”

“I’m tired of you staring after her like a lost turtle duck. You spent all that time the other night with her too; it’s obvious you like her.”

“No,” Zuko says, turning away from the door. “I won’t ask.”

“Either you ask her or I’m going to set it up for you. Take your pick.”

Zuko grimaces and thinks about it before running out the door. “Nuraya! Wait up!”

She turns around from partially down the street and waits for Zuko to catch up to her. “Is everything okay, Lee?”

Zuko stops next to her and turns red, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uhh…” he trails off, losing his courage as he looks her in the eyes. He looks away and says, “Would you like some help with those flowers?”

Nuraya raises her eyebrow, wondering why he’s asking now when he knows she’s been bringing them over all by herself. Something still lets her say, “Sure.”

Zuko takes half of the pile from her, and they walk back to the flower shop in silence as Zuko works up the courage to ask. He follows her into the shop and into the back room to drop the flowers off. 

Once the flowers are all in a pile on one of the tables, they stand there awkwardly as Nuraya waits to see why he wanted to come. 

Zuko rubs the back of his neck again and looks down at the floor, stammering, “Uh, would you happen to, uh, be… free tonight?”

“I don’t tend to do much other than work, so, yes,” Nuraya says, narrowing her eyes to figure out why he’s asking.

“Well, uh, would you like to…” the next part comes out in a rush. “Would you like to go on a date with me?”

Surprised, Nuraya says, “Oh! Uh, yes,” starting to blush.

Zuko smiles, blushing too. “I’ll, uh, meet you here at sundown?”

“That sounds wonderful,” she answers with a smile.

“I’ll, uh, see you later then,” Zuko says, turning to leave the building.

“Yeah, see you later.”

Nuraya goes back out into the main shop, smiling to herself as she takes care of the flowers.

“Who was that?” Arnit asks her from the front table.

“Oh, he’s a, uh, friend. He works at the tea shop. The man who came here to start the orders is his uncle.”

“What did he come down here for?”

“He, uh, helped me carry the flowers back. And, he asked me out on a date.”

Arnit smiles and says, “That’s wonderful! What are you doing?”

“I don’t know actually; he said he’d meet me here at sundown.”

“Well, I’ll have to let you out early then to get ready,” he says with a wink, causing Nuraya to blush.

The rest of the day Nuraya can’t stop thinking about the date, growing nervous with each passing moment. Finally, Arnit lets her out of work, and she rushes upstairs to get ready. She pulls her hair out of its sloppy ponytail and puts on the nicest dress she has. She then sits down in front of her mirror and starts to brush her hair out, carefully untangling it before putting it back in a neat ponytail, covering the tie with a gold band she still has from when she was wearing it during the fire. 

She picks up the bouquet she made earlier of gladiolus and hydrangeas before closing and locking the door behind her. She walks down the stairs and turns the corner to wait in front of the flower shop for Zuko to see him already there with his hair all gelled up.

Nuraya giggles at the sight of him and feels some of her nerves go away – he looks almost as nervous as she feels.

At the sound of her giggling, Zuko turns to see Nuraya, freezing as he takes in the sight of her. “You look – beautiful,” he says, amazed.

“And you look ridiculous with your hair like that,” she teases, reaching up on her tiptoes to ruffle his hair. “But other than that, you look good too.”

“Hey, it took my uncle ten minutes to do my hair.”

“You look better like this,” Nuraya says, blushing and looking away. “Oh, uh, I made this for you. For your, uh, apartment.” She holds the flowers out to him.

“Thanks,” he says, taking them. “They look beautiful.” He looks them over and then suddenly remembers he brought something too. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls a piece of paper out and hands it to Nuraya. “I brought you something, too. It’s a coupon for a free cup of tea.”

“Thanks,” Nuraya says, sliding it into her pocket.

Zuko clears his throat, his cheeks pink. “Are you hungry?”

Together, the two of them walk through the streets, chatting about how their day was since they last saw each other. Zuko leads them to a noodle shop, getting a table for the two of them and pulling the chair out for Nuraya to sit.

Once they are settled and put orders in, Nuraya starts the conversation up again. “Have you and your uncle been traveling for long?”

Zuko nods. “It’s been a long time since I left home.”

“Sounds like you were traveling more than I was. It took me almost a year to get here, and it was rough. I can’t imagine being on the run for even longer than that.”

Zuko nods solemnly, not wanting to tell her he hasn’t been home in close to four years, most of which he at least had the ship to call home.

Their food arrives rather quickly, and Nuraya brings up another heavy topic as they eat. “You know, I think you and your uncle are the first people not to ask about my scars,” Nuraya says, looking down at her hands. “It seems I get that question once or twice a day at the shop; someone’s always curious.”

“Well, I more than understand about not wanting to bring up bad memories,” Zuko says quietly, and Nuraya looks up at the scar on his eye. “As for my uncle, well, I guess he’s just always known to be kind and considerate to people.”

“He seems nice,” Nuraya comments, swirling her noodles around aimlessly. “I haven’t seen my uncle for a couple of years, but your uncle reminds me of him in some way.”

“If you still have an uncle, why are you here by yourself?” Zuko asks, then opens his eyes wide and retracts his statement, saying, “I’m sorry, that might be personal, I shouldn’t have asked that.”

Nuraya shakes her head, saying, “No, no, it’s okay. It’s an honest question to me telling you something like that. I love my uncle, but I didn’t want to go there after - after what happened. I was afraid to see him. I still am. Plus, he was too close to - I wanted to get away, and he wasn’t far enough.”

Zuko nods. “I know how you feel, about being scared to see your family. My uncle has always been here to support me, but my father - it’s a whole different issue with him, but let’s say that I don’t know what will happen when I see him again. Or if,” he adds. 

Nuraya nods, and they eat in silence for a few minutes. “I’m sorry, that got really dark for a first date. Well, maybe. I’ve never actually been on a date.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Zuko says with a smile. “It’s nice to have someone to relate to, even if neither of us will talk about it in detail.”

Nuraya laughs, and the rest of dinner they fall into a light conversation.

“I have another place to go to if you want, but don’t feel like you need to,” Zuko says after he paid for their dinner.

“I’m having fun,” Nuraya smiles. “I’d love to go to this mysterious place.”

Zuko leads her through the streets again, stopping a block away from their destination. “Close your eyes,” he says, turning to Nuraya.

“Why?”

“Do you trust me?” Zuko says, holding his hand out.

Nuraya sighs and tentatively places her hand in Zuko’s before closing her eyes.

Zuko slowly and carefully leads Nuraya the rest of the way to the small fountain. Luckily, the lanterns are all lit.

“You can open your eyes,” Zuko says nervously.

Nuraya does slowly and gasps, amazed at the sight of the flickering lanterns on the water. “It’s beautiful,” Nuraya says quietly.

Zuko smiles, glad that he picked the right place. Together, they sit down on one of the benches facing the water, talking about anything but their pasts and admiring the flickering light from the lanterns.

After a while, Nuraya grows tired, so Zuko walks her back to her apartment, still holding hands from earlier.

Stopping in front of the flower shop, Nuraya turns to Zuko and asks, “Are you free the day after tomorrow?”

“Yes, I believe I have the day off. Why?”

Smiling, she answers, “I’m off too. I have an idea for another date as long as it’s not raining if you’d be willing,” she says, blushing.

“Oh, yes, I’d like that,” Zuko says, equally blushing. 

“Meet me here after breakfast?”

Zuko nods. “It’s a date, then.”

Nuraya smiles. “It’s a date.” 

She doesn’t want to leave, but unfortunately, she has to get up for work in the morning, so Zuko stays until he makes sure she’s back in her apartment, and Nuraya watches him leave from her window, not able to wipe the smile off of her face.


	6. Forest Picnic

“Hey, Lee!” Nuraya says as she walks down the stairs from her apartment, a basket on her arm. Once she reaches him, she looks up at him and asks, “Are you ready for some fun, adventure, and possible danger?”

“Danger?” Zuko asks.

Nuraya winks. “Only kidding, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

She leads the way through the streets, getting closer and closer to the wall. 

“Nuraya!” A guard calls out to her as they approach the gates. “That time of the week already?”

“Yep,” she calls back with a smile. “The week went by fast, didn’t it?”

“It sure did,” he says approaching her. “Who’s this?” he asks, looking over Zuko.

“This is Lee. He’s new around here.”

The guard looks him up and down before saying, “Well, you two have fun. And don’t be out too late, you don’t want to make the night shift worry. Again.”

“Yes, I know,” Nuraya says, rolling her eyes.

Nuraya leads Zuko through the gates, and once they are far away enough, Zuko asks, “You come out here often then?”

“Yep. Unless it’s raining, I come out here on my days off. It’s nice to get out of the city sometimes, you know?”

Zuko nods. “So, from the basket and the sort of location reveal, can I guess it’s a picnic? That would explain the fun; this hike explains the adventure…” Zuko trails off as he looks up into the trees they’re hiking through. “But the danger?”

Nuraya waves it off. “There are some wild animals that live in the forest, but most of them scare off easily. And I’ve never seen any of the animals they say don’t scare off easy, so I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

“What kind of animals?”

“I heard there are bears in here.”

“Bears? Like, just a bear,” Zuko asks, confused.

“I know it sounds so crazy; I didn’t want to believe it either. But, apparently the king has a tamed bear and keeps it as a pet, so, I guess they do exist.”

Zuko shakes his head at the thought.

“Ahh, here we are,” Nuraya says, pushing past a bush to reveal a small clearing.

The clearing is on top of a hill surrounded by trees, but a quarter of the trees stand near the bottom of the slope so that the outer wall can be seen above these treetops. 

“Wow,” Zuko remarks, looking out at the wall.

“Yeah, it sure is something, isn’t it?”

“How did you find this place?”

Nuraya shrugs as she lays a blanket on the ground. “Like I said, you just need to get out of the city sometimes. So, I was wandering around the woods and stumbled across this clearing, and now it’s just where I always come.” She doesn’t mention she had been trying to find a clearing to practice her firebending in.

Zuko nods in understanding. “Do you need any help?”

“Would you mind gathering some twigs and leaves to make a small fire? I brought a pot to make lunch in. You can set them in the stone ring over there.” She points to the almost perfect circle of uneven stones that she had made a long time ago.

Zuko disappears back into the forest as Nuraya finds stones to put on the corners of the blanket, so it doesn’t move. She sits down facing the wall, and when Zuko comes back, he deposits his findings in the stone circle and then hesitantly sits down next to Nuraya.

“It’s a nice view,” Zuko says to start a conversation.

Nuraya giggles. “I think we already established that.”

“Oh, yeah, we did, didn’t we.” He rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“It’s okay, sometimes being in the city for too long makes you forget how peaceful it can be outside.”

“So what do you usually do out here, anyway?” Zuko asks, leaning back on his hands.

Nuraya freezes, not thinking that far ahead when she thought to bring him out here. “Oh, well, you know, I like to listen to the birds chirping in the trees.”

“Uh huh,” Zuko says, not convinced. “And you just sit around and listen to them all day? Don’t birds fall asleep once the sun goes down?”

Nuraya sighs, defeated. “Fine, you caught me.” She stands and walks over to the edge of the clearing, pulling the leaves and twigs off of the dummy she had hidden. She rolls it towards Zuko as she says, “I know the city isn’t supposed to know about the war, but… I don’t want to be caught off-guard if the Fire Nation ever does make it through the walls. So, I usually practice out here.”

Zuko stands too, looking the dummy over. “I didn’t know you fight. What’s it made of?”

“I bought the sheet in the market, but I stuff it with old flowers.”

“That’s why you wanted the old bouquets,” Zuko says with realization. 

Nuraya nods. “It would probably be easier if I just forgot about the war, but,” she looks down at her hands. “I can’t.”

Trying to find a way to cheer her up, Zuko says, “Would you like a training partner?”

“What?” she says, looking up at him.

Shrugging, he responds, “I told you that person attacked us in the tea shop? I fought him off. I know a thing or two about fighting.”

Nuraya hesitates, thinking about it, before quickly pushing the dummy out of the way and dropping to the ground, trying to kick Zuko’s legs to knock him over.

Zuko jumps over them and smiles, saying, “You certainly are fast.”

Nuraya smiles back as she quickly stands back up, “You haven’t even seen fast yet.” 

Zuko attacks next with a kick that Nuraya blocks before returning with a hit of her own, which Zuko blocks. They go back and forth for a while before Zuko tries another kick, but instead of blocking it, Nuraya catches his leg and flips him over onto the ground and stands over him as if she was going for the finishing move.

Huffing, Nuraya drops her arms, holding out her hand to help Zuko off of the ground. He accepts her hand and stands, trying to catch his breath. “You’re really good,” he says once he can talk again.

“Thanks! You are too. I think we worked up quite an appetite, are you ready for lunch?” She walks over to the basket and starts pulling supplies out before remembering her mistake. “I forgot spark rocks to start the fire,” she says, mentally kicking herself because she always used her firebending for it.

“That’s okay,” Zuko says, picking two rocks off of the ground. “I think I can start one with these.” He leans over the pile of twigs and blocks it from Nuraya’s view, hitting the rocks together a few times before lighting it with his firebending. “I got it!”

“Oh, you’re a lifesaver,” Nuraya says, lugging the pot over with the contraption to suspend it over the fire.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal,” Zuko responds, blushing. 

Together they set the pot up and start the soup for lunch. They sit on the blanket again and chat, and when the soup is finished, they talk while eating as well.

“There’s more soup, do you want another bowl?” Nuraya asks as she peers into the pot. “It’s almost gone.”

“Sure,” he answers with a smile. He passes his bowl over to Nuraya, and she stirs the ladle around before hearing a twig snap nearby. She pauses and looks up at the trees, asking, “Did you hear that?”

Zuko looks where Nuraya is and strains his ears, hearing another twig snap. He stands quickly, saying, “Something’s there.”

Nuraya sets the bowl and ladle down and stands as well. The two of them watch the trees as the sound continues to get closer and closer until a large, fuzzy, snarling animal stalks into the clearing.

“Is that a bear?” Zuko asks slowly.

“It must be.” She slides her foot over so they are shoulder-width apart, preparing for an attack. 

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen one before!"

The bear starts charging towards the two and Nuraya panics, punching a burst of fire in the direction of the bear. The bear startles at the fire and changes its course, running back into the forest where it came from.

"Well that was easier than I expected," Nuraya says as she returns to a normal standing position and turns, freezing when she sees Zuko staring at her in shock. Her eyes grow wide in realization. “Oh my, I forgot,” she starts, waving her hands as she starts talking faster. “I’m – I’m so sorry, I should have told you, but how do I tell you about something like that? The Fire Nation is the enemy, they probably did a lot to you, and now you see that I’m the enemy, please don’t turn me in, I don’t want to hurt anyone, I –”

She’s cut off as Zuko takes her hands to calm her down, a soft smile on his face.

“You’re… smiling. Why are you smiling? You just found out I’m a firebender!”

“It’s okay,” Zuko says with a soft voice. “I’m not going to turn you in.”

“Why not?” she asks, shocked. She remembers how everyone in the village had acted after she had helped them out with firebending; she thought for sure he was going to act the same way.

“Right.” Zuko lets go of one of her hands, punching his own burst of fire out into the clearing.

Nuraya gasps. “You’re a firebender too?”

Zuko takes her hand back. “I am. My Uncle and I are hiding here, as we are wanted by the Fire Nation, and figured it was the best place to get away from them.”

“My house burned down,” Nuraya says in a rush. “It was Commander Zhao; my father made him mad, so he started the fire. I made it out alive, but not unscathed. The roof fell in on me, and I had to push it off. I ran away after that and ended up here.”

“You didn’t have to tell me that, but I appreciate it,” he answers with a smile. “I happen to know personally that Zhao is no more.”

Nuraya pulls her hands from Zuko’s in shock. “He’s dead?”

“I don’t know if he’s dead,” Zuko admits, “But the avatar helped the moon spirit in the North Pole, and the spirit took Zhao. So, if he isn’t dead, he’s not in this world.” He pauses before asking, “Can I ask a question?”

“Only if I can ask some of my own,” she responds, thinking.

“If you’re a firebender, and Zhao was mad enough at your dad to burn your house down, plus the fact that you beat me at our spar… Can I assume your father was Mrithun?”

“You may,” Nuraya answers with a smile. “Now, it’s my turn. You know too many specific details about the Fire Nation’s attack on the North Pole, which means you were there. On top of that, you know the avatar is back, and you’re here with your uncle as wanted fugitives.”

Zuko gulps.

“Can I assume, Lee, that you are using a fake name? If so, adding the scar on top of everything I just said, as well as the fact that you needed to add that I could beat you to figure out who I am…” She lowers her voice, finishing, “Are you Prince Zuko?”

Zuko hangs his head. “I’m sorry for not telling you the truth,” he says, staring at the ground. “My sister, Azula, has been chasing my uncle and me around ever since the North Pole. Our names are too recognizable as well, so we changed them on the fake IDs to get into the city.” He sighs and looks up at Nuraya. “I understand if you don’t want to date me anymore after finding this out. I should have never asked in the first place.” He turns away from her, ready to walk back to the city.

“Wait!” Nuraya says, grabbing his hand. She spins him around and stands on the tip of her toes, pressing a small kiss against his lips. “I can decide for myself whether I want to date you or not,” she mutters after pulling away.

“But –”

“But nothing,” she says, smiling. “We were both hiding things from each other, Zuko. What’s important is that you were honest with me, and didn’t try to deny it when I asked you. I know my family refused to get in the war, so if you were about to apologize for that...” she reaches up and places her hand on his cheek, running her thumb along the surface of his scar. “There’s good in you, somewhere, so I know you wouldn’t do anything to me for refusing to get into the war.”

Zuko closes his eyes and blinks back some tears. “I don’t think I've ever met someone as kind as you.”

“I understand how you feel.” She drops her hand, but Zuko doesn’t let her get far, putting his hand on her cheek and pulling her back in for another kiss.

“I’m glad I found you,” Zuko mutters once he pulls away.

“I’m glad you found me too.” Zuko tries to pull her in for another kiss, but she barely resists, saying, “We should get out of here before that bear tries to come back.”

“Right,” Zuko says, clearing his throat. Together they quickly clean up, finishing the rest of the soup off before taking care of everything else. They walk out of the clearing together, hand in hand, laughing and joking around with each other.

Zuko’s apartment is closer to the wall than Nuraya’s, so they stop there together.

Zuko leans down and presses a kiss on Nuraya’s lips again, whispering, “I had a great day today,”

“Me too,” she responds, blushing. “Will I see you soon?”

“Of course,” he answers with a smile. Nuraya holds onto his hand as he starts to walk inside, stretching their arms out as far as they can reach before his hand slips out of hers and their arms fall by their sides. Nuraya waves goodbye and turns down the street, and Zuko watches her before returning to the apartment with a stupid grin on his face. 

“How was your date, Prince Zuko?” Iroh asks him as Zuko closes the apartment door behind him. 

Zuko tries to hide the smile from Iroh but only manages to lessen it, turning around to face his uncle. 

Upon seeing the small smile on his nephews face, Iroh smiles too.“I did tell you she was cute,” he hums, turning to the stove. “I’m glad you are enjoying yourself. Would you like a cup of tea?”

Zuko sighs but accepts the tea anyway, mulling over what to do for their next date.


End file.
